ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's rugby team (3-5, 1-5 NIRA) concluded its final home 15s fall match with a 41-0 loss to Army (6-2, 5-2 NIRA) in the annual Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA.
"The girls played hard for 80 minutes, just not the result we were hoping for," said head coach Murph McCarthy. "The atmosphere that the fans and Midshipmen brought to support and cheer us on were awesome."
The Black Knights exploded out the gates with a pair tries in the first eight minutes. After an even first five minutes of play, Army executed the first solid offensive possession of the match and marched its way into Navy's 22-meter zone. A Midshipmen penalty in the ruck allowed the Black Knights to kick inside the five-meter zone for an attacking lineout and maul its way for the first try of the day.
Two minutes later the Army paced the attack near mid field after receiving the kickoff, a pair of offloading passes by the Black Knights was too fast for the Midshipmen and scamper their way for the quick strike to make it a 14-0 match.
A hand in the ruck penalty gifted Navy with great field position on its first promising offensive drive in the 17th minute. Megan Leitz positioned the ball for a Navy lineout and surpassed Army's 22-meter zone for the first time. The Mids mauled their way deep into Black Knights territory, senior captain Maggie Geiger fell inches short of the try zone, she passed the ball off to Bigue Kah but the Black Knights held up Kah to prevent the spike in the 18th minute. Navy received a goal line drop and pushed its way inside the 22-meter zone again, but Army's defense was too strong as it forced a turnover and got itself out of danger.
The Black Knights benefited from back-to-back Navy offside penalties and elected for a penalty kick attempt to add three more points to make the score, 17-0, in the 22nd minute.
Neither team could generate a long offensive possession for the remainder of the half. Army was able to push back into the Mids five-meter zone for its third try of the half, but Navy's defense forced a big turnover to end the first half.
Army opened the second half capitalizing of another Navy offside penalty as it drills its second penalty kick of the day to extend its lead, 20-0.
The Mids started to gain some momentum in the 51st minute as they drew a yellow card penalty on a Black Knight defender. Navy used the extra man opportunity to its advantage and drove its way into Army territory but a dropped ball halted the momentum. The Midshipmen would get a second chance as Alexis Rohrbach broke off a long run for an opportunity to put points on the board. Three-straight high tackle penalties had Navy inches from a try but the Black Knights defense stood strong again despite being a man down in the 59th minute and maintain the shutout.
Army would return back to even strength and would run in three tries in the 67th, 79th and 83rd minute.
Up Next
Navy will close out its fall 15s schedule on the road at Mount St. Mary's (Md.) next Saturday at Emmitsburg, Md. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m.
Box Score
First Half
5:48 – Try – Army – Stevie-Rae Ricklick (0-5)
Conversion kick – (0-7)
7:57 – Try – Army (0-12)
Conversion kick (0-14)
21:38 – Penalty kick – Army (0-17)
Second Half
42:17 – Penalty kick – Army (0-20)
66:29 – Try – Army (0-25)
Conversion kick – Army (0-27)
78:58 – Try – Army (0-32)
Conversion kick – Army (0-34)
82:50 – Try – Army (0-39)
Conversion kick – Army (0-41)
